Stocks headed for a dividend cut

Companies have been cutting dividends left and right, leaving investors wondering “Which stocks will be next?” BusinessWeek attempts to answer that question in a slide show – Dividends in Danger – that highlights a variety of stocks where “dividend danger may lurk.”

Some of the companies mentioned include U.S. Bancorp (USB: 22.87 +2.46%, yld: 0.90%), Alcoa (AA: 11.27 +1.81%, yld: 1.08%), Allstate (ALL: 29.55 +1.55%, yld: 2.75%), General Electric (GE: 15.905 +1.31%, yld: 2.55%), Hershey (HSY: 46.45 +0.04%, yld: 2.71%), and Caterpillar (CAT: 71.0701 +0.47%, yld: 2.40%).

Not mentioned were any utilities – at least two of which, Great Plains Energy (GXP: 19.17 +1.48%, yld: 4.40%) and Ameren (AEE: 27.90 +0.69%, yld: 5.56%), just recently slashed their dividends. (I own shares of the latter and will be making adjustments to the position accordingly.)

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